The Sahara Desert

The Sahara Desert is the world's largest hot desert, located in North Africa.

The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania ,Mali, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara,

Sudan and Tunisia.

Its surface area of 9,400,000 square kilometres (3,630,000 square miles) including the Libyan Desert and covers about 1/4 of the African continent.It is comparable to the respective land areas of China or the United States.

The Sahara is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the western edge, the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Red Sea on the east, and the Sudan and the valley of the Niger River on the south.

The Sahara has one of the harshest climates in the world.

The Sahara is the world's hottest desert.

Several deeply dissected mountains and mountain ranges, many volcanic, rise from the desert.

Emi Koussi, a peak in the Tibesti Mountains is 3,415 metres (11,204 feet) high and the highest point in the desert.

Snow may fall occasionally in some of the higher mountain ranges.On Feb. 18, 1979, low altitude areas of the Sahara desert recorded their first snowfall in living memory. Snow fell in spots in southern Algeria.It snowed in Algeria again in 2012.

Most of the rivers and streams in the Sahara desert are seasonal or intermittent, the main exception being the

Nile River, which crosses the desert from its origins in central Africa to empty into the Mediterranean.

There are some 20 or more lakes in the Sahara.Most of these are saltwater lakes. Lake Chad is the only freshwater lake in the desert.

Some of the world's largest supplies of underground water exist beneath the Sahara Desert, supporting about 90 major oases there.

Due to the paucity of water, the Sahara contains almost no flora.From the Mediterranean vegetation which covered the Sahara mountains before they became a desert, only laurel and cypress trees remain in the region near

Camels are the main animal of the desert.They have a great capacity to resist heat and thirst. Even above 50°, they can stay without drinking water for many days.The camel is the favourite animal used by nomads.The second favorite animal for nomads in the Sahara desert is goat.

Several species of fox live in the Sahara, including the fennec fox, pale fox and Rüppell's fox.

The addax, a large white antelope, can go nearly a year in the desert without drinking. The dorcas gazelle is a north African gazelle that can also go for a long time without water. Other notable gazelles include the rhim gazelle and dama gazelle.

The northwest African cheetah, also known as the Saharan cheetah, is a subspecies of cheetah found in the northwestern part of Africa (particularly the central western Sahara desert and the Sahel).

Other animals include the monitor lizards, deathstalker scorpions, sand vipers, hyrax and small populations of

African wild dog and red-necked